Crab
Like it or not the reality is that efficient use of time (and money) is important in the GA world. And commercial air transport world too of course. In some areas of aviation it is much less of a priority. That means that "unnecessary faff" as I termed it, should be avoided. Necessary flight planning, aircraft preparation, and professional flying is necessary use of time and of course should be undertaken. But it should be appreciated that 99.99% of flights operate perfectly safely within the existing framework of regulations and procedures, which is why focus should be education of pilots in specific areas of high risk. Returning to the Wales accident, I think here it was a fundamental lack of spacial awareness. So the key message here is, always make sure you know where you are and what’s around you.
I stand by my view that your suggestion that “the GA community could learn something from the military where each flight is required to be authorised”, if implemented, would be an unnecessary faff and unworkable. The way you floated the idea was that each flight should be approved. But if you were going to flesh this out (which is necessary to validate the practicality of any idea) who exactly would you think this should apply to? All pilots? Just PPLs? Low time PPLs? And for flights in what weather? All, even CAVOK 20 mile hops? Or just bad weather flights? Then what weather? And who would do this? What credentials would they need to authorise flights? What notice would they need? How long would it take? How much would it cost? And then there is the big one – what insurance will they need to cover the liability risk when the relatives of crashed pilot add the authoriser to the list of parties they are going to sue? Not an issue in a mil world I’m sure, but it will be in the civilian! And then if you consider it should only be a recommendation, this has always been open to anyone to do – and those that felt they needed it could be doing it already.
Don’t get me wrong, you usually have some very good views – but I don’t think this is one of them!
Anchorhold
If you're over the Welsh mountains and relying on dead reckoning and using nav aids (what radar service?) you're going to have a lot less spare time to think about what you're doing, looking out, looking at instruments and generally thinking, compared with glancing at an iPad moving map with your exact position and speed instantly shown. And you're Garmin 430 will give you a GPS back up anyway. And if they don't agree - sure, dial up a VOR. If you're high enough.
Totally agree on your earlier post ref reading AAIB reports though. Essential educational reading for everyone.